A third of Thais believe road carnage is fate, conference told

[Megasin1]

32 % of the people are correct. If you drive a vehicle untrained, without a licence, poorly maintained, without wearing a seatbelt, strapping your kids in, or wearing a helmet as fast as that vehicle can go with no regard for anyone else on the road you are defining your fate. You are also defining other innocent peoples fate. So that leaves the 68% who believe that if they don't believe in fate, they won't die, pretty optimistic of them...

[jerojero]

Yes fate, perpetrated by lack of skill or care of the driver.

Sent from my SM-G950W using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[farcanell]

3 hours ago, hansnl said:

Where could one learn how to drive?

 

To put things a little bit in the right proportions, in 2016 in the USA, 102 persons were killed in traffic, every day.

Nobody in the US makes a problem of that, it seems.

But other causes of violent deaths.....

This doesn’t add perspective.... equate it to numbers per 100,000, or similar, and it might

 

[noahvail]

3 hours ago, hansnl said:

Where could one learn how to drive?

 

To put things a little bit in the right proportions, in 2016 in the USA, 102 persons were killed in traffic, every day.

Nobody in the US makes a problem of that, it seems.

But other causes of violent deaths.....

Quite a lot is being done. Many are deeply disturbed that as the economy finally took off, so did the highway fatalities, the highest in a decade. 

 

Thailand’s death rate per capita well s 3-1/2 times that of the US; and 13 times that of the UK.  Seems to me *that’s* where the comparison should be made, with the UK.

 

Nine vehicles models sold in the US in 2011 had zero fatalities in four years. They are: 

• Audi A4 4WD
• Honday Odyssey
• Kia Sorento 2WD
• Lexus RX 350 4WD
• Mercedes-Benz GL-Class 4WD
• Subaru Legacy 4WD
• Toyota Highlander hybrid 4WD
• Toyota Sequioa 4WD
• Volvo XC90 4WD

 

[bridge2bridge]

That statement just confirms the MENTALITY of Thai thinking.

 

[Megasin1]

Finally all these trips to Thailand have produced enlightenment, I knew it would eventually pay off. The beach smoking ban is not ridiculous, nor is the notion of introducing anything with 'high speed' in it,  these are the first stages of an extremely cunning plan to enable senior Government officials to move safely and rapidly to an idyllic setting for the sole purpose of effective and proper 'burying of the head in sand' over more important issues......

[farcanell]

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The conference was organised by the government's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation under the chair of Chayaphon Thitisak.

The “disaster” being mitigated is the one that will happen with world wide condemnation at Thailand, for being the worlds WORST road user.

 

interestingly (to me)....  96.6% responded that the government should step in and spend more on the issue.... does this then mean that of the 32% of Thais that believed it was fate, 99% of these were lying about believing in fate? 

 

 

[Megasin1]

It just means they believe their fate is controlled by the Government...amen to that

[IamNoone88]

It's fate that Thailand will be No 1 in road accidents .... very soon. Nothing more, nothing less.

[rtco]

Fate ... UNBELIEVABLE!!! 

 

It is the total lack of road sense which is as a result of getting a driving license with few hours of training. These people just do not understand how to conduct themselves on the roads ... lack of spacial awareness, lack of forethought, lack of competency, lack of ... well in essence a brain.

 

That coupled with the totally inadequate implementation of the law, minimal fines, vehicles not fit for the road and abysmal roads you have the recipe for disaster.

 

If the good general were to place a higher importance on this aspect that to building high-speed rail links, buying submarines and such the like then maybe, just maybe in about 20 years they might drop down to number 2 in the list of he worst countries for driving fatalities. 

[TechnikaIII]

So what's the point of traffic police? 

May as well sack the lot of them. All they do is collect bribes anyway.

 

 

[Megasin1]

Just now, TechnikaIII said:

So what's the point of traffic police? 

May as well sack the lot of them. All they do is collect bribes anyway.

 

 

Bribe collecting is a protected job 

[lonewolf99]

My ex Thai GF would get really upset when I thought out loud about what might happen - mostly when my life or limbs might be at stake.

"Why you think bad like this ? Why you not think good things all the time"?

Well the answer is I come from a "What if?" culture not "Never bleeding mind".

What if that baboon on a motorbike comes out from the side street and never looks?
What if this guy on my right decides he wants to turn into Macro/Gas stations before me when we are 20 yards from the entrance?

What if this middle aged woman on a motor bike spots cheap Som Tam across five lanes and decides to just go for it with tunnel vision, with several infants onboard?

 

the list is endless.....and one of the many reasons why it is an Ex GF...

 

Off topic but.
I tell everyone to get a cat now for a partner, forget women.
Cats never argue, affectionate when they need food and the rest of the time they do their own thing leaving you to get on with your life.

[keithpa]

Its only a road death if dead at the scene of the accident. Die later, not a road death, fact.

[jenny2017]

5 hours ago, lupin said:

A third of Thais believe road carnage is fate

.......... and the other 2 thirds lied about it so as not to appear silly

 

Nope, the other 2 thirds didn't understand the question and said: "Arrai Waa"?

Edited November 18, 2017 by jenny2017

[DavisH]

Being Buddhists, I expected it to be much higher. I guess it's only the most uneducated that hold those beliefs, but I will stand corrected. 

[noahvail]

There had been talk of extending it to 24 hours if in a hospital, but I never read that it had gone into force. Imagine the numbers if the time period were open-ended as it is in developed countries!

[noahvail]

I’ve spoken with A&E doctors and nurses who profess that same belief. And they see the results on a daily basis!

[mortem]

"The death toll was put at 15,488 in 2016."

 

How do they count the death toll?

Depending of the countries, the counting can be different and have dramatic effect on the number and so sometime, it is not really representative:

- Some countries do not people only dying at the scene. Those countries minimize as much as possible the published death toll by this way

- Some countries count people who passed away within the 24 hours following the accident regardless of the location (at the scene, hospital, on the way to the hospital, etc...)

- Some countries count people who passed away within a week following the accident regardless of the location (at the scene, hospital, on the way to the hospital, etc...)

- Finally, some countries decided to count people who passed away with a month following the accident regardless of the location (at the scene, hospital, on the way to the hospital, etc...)

 

Where I come from, the statistics are provided using the last method  (and I think this is the right way to do) and I wonder which one is used here. Can anyone provide (without any sarcasm) the method they use to gather this number? I have my own idea but I would like to be able to compare apple to apple.

 

Thank you

[DavisH]

Assuming 75-80% of deaths involve motorbikes, it's quite easy to see where education/training/law enforcement should be directing itself. Follow Vietnam's example and force all riders to wear helmets. Let's just start there. Only only needs to fall off their bike at 10 km/h or less and suffer a brain injury or worse. 

[tingtongtourist]

W

5 hours ago, lupin said:

A third of Thais believe road carnage is fate

.......... and the other 2 thirds lied about it so as not to appear silly

 

And half of those 2 thirds lied because they really believed a ghost on the side of road cause all the accidents.555

[natway09]

The one third should NEVER be able to hold a drivers licence.

They are a menace to themselves & all other drivers

Problem helped & traffic will move better as well.

[CLW]

Make sure you have your new car blessed. It will then be impossible to have a road accident! That's what my, university educated, Thai friend told me. 
 
Also keeping your headlights off, well past dark, may help this accident prevention thing! Actually this may be done because some are not sure how much that power costs to run!

No, they turn off the lights because then no ghost can follow them.
That's what I heard a few times already

[pattayadon]

Well if the government says that 2/3 of the population feels it is fate, well hell, Why bother with driver education classes! Drive on!!

[CLW]

I'm just wondering in case of an accident caused by another drivers fault because of missing driver education during the license issuing if you could sue the Thai government for that?

[connda]

My own wife after living and driving with me is one of the first to admit to the utter stupidity of Thai drivers, and one of those outside of the 33% who think that the carnage is due to aggressive, stupid driving and a total lack of traffic policing.  After living for ten years with a farang, what else would she believe?  Although, somewhere way back in the back of her Animistic/Buddhist beliefs, I'm sure she probably thinks that if someone gets killed or injured - then it's karma.  But, she also understands the role of aggressive stupidity to her own credit.  
Picture below from our trip yesterday as this truck passed a line of cars on a highway straightaway forcing me to brake hard and head for the shoulder while forcing the oncoming car off to the shoulder.  All traffic was moving at about 70 kph with the white truck at maybe 120+.  There was nothing but a line of cars in front of me and in back of me with nowhere to go!  I heard this moron coming before I saw him.  Total insanity.  Totally typical.  Which is why Thailand is the most dangerous place on Earth to drive.
 

Edited November 18, 2017 by connda

[keithpa]

Why are people wasting their time on this. Nothing any body says is going to make one iota of difference.

[jenny2017]

1 minute ago, connda said:

My own wife after living and driving with me is one of the first to admit to the utter stupidity of Thai drivers, and one of those outside of the 33% who think that the carnage is due to aggressive, stupid driving and a total lack of traffic policing.  After living for ten years with a farang, what else would she believe?  Although, somewhere way back in the back of her Animistic/Buddhist beliefs, I'm sure she probably thinks that if someone gets killed or injured - then it's karma.  But, she also understands the role of aggressive stupidity to her own credit.  
Picture below from our trip yesterday as this truck passed a line of cars on a highway straightaway forcing me to brake hard and head for the shoulder while forcing the oncoming car off to the shoulder.  All traffic was moving at about 70 kph with the white truck at maybe 120+.  There was nothing but a line of cars in front of me and nowhere to go!  Total insanity.  Totally typical.  Which is why Thailand is the most dangerous place on Earth to drive.
 

C'Mom...he must have had some Buddha amulets on his dashboard. 

[connda]

12 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

C'Mom...he must have had some Buddha amulets on his dashboard. 

No doubt 10 or so around his neck too.  And a protective tattoo on his back to boot.  Guaranteed to ward off bullets and oncoming vehicles.
  
I should download my dashcam photos of the three trucks heading the wrong way down Highway 11 south of Chiang Mai and then pulling out in front of traffick in a game of chicken.  Had they simply turned right and merged onto the highway, there was a U-turn 1 km up the road.  Instead they were driving the wrong way on the highway to make it to a U-turn 100 meters to the south.  Again - it's the same complete and utter stupidity.  There is no law enforcement, so this will continue until there is.  Maybe another decade or so.  

Edited November 18, 2017 by connda

[jenny2017]

5 minutes ago, connda said:

No doubt 10 or so around his neck too.  And a protective tattoo on his back to boot.

The driver....